After a male student transmigrated into the body of a widow,

Even after Gu Lin returned, he didn't have a moment of leisure. After paying his tuition for the year, he only had one or two taels of silver left in his pocket.

Expanding the business was urgent; if he continued selling cold dishes, Gu Lin estimated he might not even be able to make a living. But business was still unstable, so he couldn't add dishes completely different from cold dishes; otherwise, if he made new dishes while reducing the amount of cold dishes, customers would probably be dissatisfied.

Gu Lin pondered; he needed to make something different from the cold dishes, but with some similarities.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He realized that the cold dishes he made were all vegetarian, but there were also meat-based cold dishes. However, due to limited ingredients, he decided to make shredded chicken first to see how well everyone would accept it.

With concrete ideas and plans in mind, Gu Lin felt a little relieved. At this moment, Zheng Hao walked up to him and asked with a puzzled look, "What's wrong?"

Zheng Hao looked at him and said, "I'm going to school tomorrow. How will you sell cold dishes by yourself?"

"Hiss." If Zheng Hao hadn't reminded him, Gu Lin would have almost forgotten about this. A look of worry appeared on his face. The number of customers at the stall was not what it used to be. He could grit his teeth and manage it. Moreover, he couldn't possibly sell all two hundred tubes of cold dishes by himself.

Gu Lin had a headache. He realized he needed to hire someone to help him as soon as possible, but who should he hire?

Gu Lin looked thoughtful.

Seeing the young man in front of him so conflicted, Zheng Hao's usually cold and ruthless eyes flashed with a hint of helplessness as he suggested, "You can ask Aunt Zhao for help."

At this moment, Gu Lin also thought of Sister Zhao, but he quickly shook his head and said, "No, it's June now, the time for fertilizing and weeding in the fields. Sister Zhao is too busy with her own work in the fields to help me."

Zheng Hao calmly analyzed, "There are two men in the Zhao family. Aunt Zhao will finish her work in the fields a day or two early. As long as you offer her a reasonable wage, she will come."

Gu Lin was slightly tempted, but after thinking about it, he shook his head and said, "I'll think about it some more."

After arriving in this world, he understood how important farmland was to farmers. It was no exaggeration to say that it was their lifeline. The livelihood of a family of several people depended on the fields for the entire year. If he delayed the work in the fields, Gu Lin would feel uneasy.

Zheng Hao saw through Gu Lin's thoughts but didn't take it to heart. He had lived in Xiahe Village for many years and knew better than anyone how much the villagers wanted to make money. Don't be fooled by the fact that everyone in Xiahe Village who could walk wanted to work in the fields, as if they valued the land highly. That was simply because they had no other way to make money besides farming.

But he didn't try to persuade him further. After spending a few days together, Zheng Hao realized that Gu Lin seemed easy to talk to, but once he made up his mind, it was difficult for others to change it.

Gu Lin didn't want to trouble Zhao's wife and planned to look for other candidates, but at night, while Gu Lin was struggling with how to kill a chicken and make hand-shredded chicken, there was a knock on the door.

Gu Lin opened the door and was quite surprised to see the person in front of him. In just one day, Zhao's sister-in-law seemed to have aged more than ten years: "Sister-in-law, what happened to you?"

The tears that Zhao's sister-in-law had been holding back fell again. For her, what had happened today was like the sky falling down.

Seeing Zhao's sister-in-law's tearful and nearly collapsing expression, Gu Lin helped her into the courtyard, poured her a bowl of warm water, and said, "Sister-in-law, don't worry. What trouble have you encountered? Tell me. Although I don't have much ability, I can still offer some advice."

Looking at the boy's concerned face, Sister Zhao felt ashamed to face him, thinking that she hadn't helped him much and now had to trouble him again.

But she had already asked everyone she could, and now, apart from Gu Lin, there was no one else she could turn to for help.

"Lin-ge'er, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. If I hadn't really had no other choice, I wouldn't have bothered you like this." Zhao's sister-in-law sobbed uncontrollably, "This morning, Dagen went to Wang the carpenter's house to learn a trade, but after a short while, he was brought back by Wang's family, lying on his carrying pole covered in blood. Dagen's arm had a cut the length of his arm, and you could see the bone. I almost fainted at that time. Before I could even figure out how Dagen got injured, Wang's family said that he didn't respect his teacher, and a conflict broke out between them and Wang, and they started fighting."

“My Dagen is the most honest and upright person. He has never said a bad word about Wang the carpenter in front of us. He always says that he should work hard so that Wang the carpenter can feel his sincerity and take him as an apprentice. How could he possibly hit Wang the carpenter?”

Gu Lin hadn't spent much time with Zhao Dagen, but he had dealt with him a few times. Gu Lin didn't believe that Zhao Dagen, an honest man who was even embarrassed to accept money for bamboo tubes, would lay a hand on his elders: "I believe Dagen isn't that kind of person."

Sister Zhao continued, "I don't believe it either. Da Gen woke up in the evening and told us that he was wrongly accused and kicked out by the Wang family."

The woman became increasingly agitated as she spoke, her voice almost hoarse. As Gu Lin listened to the rest of Zhao's words, his expression grew increasingly grim.

It turned out that Zhao Dagen wasn't kicked out because of a conflict with Wang the carpenter, but because he was implicated by Wang the carpenter's daughter. After arguing with her husband, Wang the carpenter's daughter went back to her parents' home. A few days later, her husband came to the Wang family home, only to find his wife laughing and talking with a strange man. Wang the carpenter's son-in-law immediately felt betrayed and, in a fit of rage, beat Zhao Dagen. Ignoring Zhao Dagen's explanations, he beat him more and more violently. Zhao Dagen initially endured it, but seeing that his father was going to kill him, he quickly fought back. As the fight went on, Zhao Dagen was hit hard and crashed into a wooden saw in the yard. Blood spurted out, and Zhao Dagen fainted. Wang the carpenter's son-in-law and the carpenter's family, fearing that someone might die, had the village's barefoot doctor treat Zhao Dagen's wounds and immediately took him home.

Anger surged in Gu Lin's heart, but he managed to remain calm and asked, "How is Da Gen's wound being treated? It's a serious injury, so we can't be careless. Do you have enough money? I have an ounce of silver here; you can take it first."

After hearing Zhao's description, Gu Lin could imagine how serious Zhao Dagen's injury was. The fact that bone was visible meant that the wound was not only large but also deep. With the current lack of advanced medical technology, not to mention whether the injured bone could be healed, there was no corresponding medicine during the healing process. Once the wound became infected and inflamed, there was a risk of death at any time.

But faced with the weathered face of Sister Zhao, Gu Lin, no matter how worried he was, dared not voice his concerns.

Thinking of the culprit, Gu Lin gritted his teeth and said, "The Wang family and their son-in-law must be held responsible." But as soon as he finished speaking, a bitter look appeared on Zhao's face, and Gu Lin had a bad feeling.

Zhao's sister-in-law's eyes were filled with despair, devoid of their usual spirit and vitality. She covered her mouth and sobbed, "Dagen said... Wang's son-in-law is a county official. How can we, who toil in the fields, dare to fight against them!"

Even after Zhao's wife left, the image of her heartbroken and devastated state remained in Gu Lin's mind.

With a creak, Zheng Hao walked out of the room.

Gu Lin had his back to him, and it was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to him: "Are we really going to let it go like this?"

That wasn't just a blade of grass or a flower; it was a living, breathing human life. Gu Lin thought he had experienced the coldness and warmth of human relationships and seen through the darkness of society since childhood, but he found that what he had come into contact with was only the tip of the iceberg.

He never imagined that anyone in the world would dare to act so recklessly.

When a person's life is harmed, the victim bears the responsibility and even lives in fear, while the perpetrator acts arrogantly as if nothing happened.

"Why should those who harm and kill others be allowed to live a good life?"

Zheng Hao walked to his side. In the moonlight, the shadows of the two figures, one large and one small, stretched long on the courtyard ground. Zheng Hao, devoid of his usual impulsiveness and recklessness, displayed a calmness he had never shown before: "Because we are the people."

Gu Lin felt a chill run through his body. Never before had the division of people into different classes been so vivid in his eyes. It seemed that he had underestimated the cruelty of this world from beginning to end.

He turned around, glancing down at the boy beside him. Although the boy claimed to be a commoner, his expression showed no humility, but rather a sense of superiority. In a daze, Gu Lin asked, "What would you do if you were Sister-in-law Zhao?"

Zheng Hao looked surprised, clearly not expecting the other party to ask such a question.

Gu Lin was somewhat disappointed. He had been grasping at straws in his desperation. What use was it for him to ask such questions when the other person was just a child and would achieve great success in the future? But then, Gu Lin heard a slightly childish but chilling voice beside him: "Officials can't cover up everything. The people have their own ways of retaliating."

Zheng Hao knew that Gu Lin was asking on behalf of Zhao's sister-in-law. In the past, he would not have revealed his entire scheme. Even when facing Gouzi and the others, he would only give indirect instructions.

Therefore, no one knew that the seemingly fierce and combative teenager actually had a calm and wise mind.

Otherwise, how could Zheng Hao have escaped Gu Lin's repeated abuse and even attempts to kill him, and how could he have led a group of children to hunt in the deep mountains teeming with wild beasts?

Gu Lin asked somewhat anxiously, "What's your idea?"

Zheng Hao: "Let them fight it out among themselves."

They were commoners, so naturally they had no confidence to fight against officials. But what about their enemies, who were also officials?

Zheng Hao came from a peasant family and had no formal education. His ancestors were all commoners, but his innate keenness allowed him to understand the principle of "when the snipe and the clam fight, the fisherman benefits."

Gu Lin felt bewildered after hearing this. He had already learned from Sister Zhao that even a dog in front of the county government office was more valuable than an ordinary person. How could they, as commoners, fight against officials?

He looked at the teenager in front of him, whose expression was colder than he had ever seen before. Zheng Hao said, "There might be a lot of trouble later. Are you sure you want to help them?"

In his view, this matter had nothing to do with the other party, and Gu Lin didn't need to get involved, lest he cause trouble for nothing.

Gu Lin is not a meddlesome person, but Zhao Saozi is no stranger to him. She is the first person to show him kindness when he came into this world with no relatives and friends and felt lost and helpless. She stands firmly by his side.

Gu Lin said with a firm gaze, "I'm sure."